Johann Mouton, CREST HESA Conference on Research and Innovation 4 April 2012. Measuring differentiation in knowledge production at SA universities. Preliminary comments .

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University research production - since the introduction of a national research subsidy scheme in 1987 – initially remained quite stable (ranging between 5000 and 5500 article units between 1988 and 2003) BUT then increased dramatically to reach more than 8000 units in 2010. The best explanation for this dramatic increase is the introduction of the new research funding framework in 2003 (and which came into effect in 2005) which provided much more significant financial reward for research units and clearly provided a huge incentive to institutions to increase their output

But the increase in recent years in absolute output has not affected the institutional distribution. The huge differences between the most productive and least productive universities that were evident 25 years ago, have remained mostly unchanged. A few universities have managed to improve their position in the ranking (UWC is a good example), but the vast inequalities in knowledge production between the top and bottom universities have not disappeared.

The statistics presented thus far on institutional output only refer to absolute output and have not been normalized for the size (viz. Academic capacity) of institutions. In the following two graphs we first present the rankings i.t.o. research output (normalized for number of permanent staff) and then the rankings i.t.o. knowledge output (Masters and Doctoral graduates included) also normalized for size of academic staff. A comparison of the two ranking reveal some interesting shifts in rankings (most notably for NMMU, UNISA and some of the UoT’s) but the overall difference in normalized output between the top and the bottom universities remains huge.

SA universities vary hugely in terms of the “shape” of their knowledge production. The big differences in scientific field profiles of the different universities is clearly a function of institutional histories (e.g. having a medical school or faculty of theology) and institutional missions (research intensive universities versus more teaching universities and ex-technikons)

Distribution of research output by journal index (ISI, IBSS and “SA”) varies hugely. The differences between the universities in terms of this dimension is mainly a function of the shape of knowledge production at the universities, but clearly also of other factors like institutional histories, language of publishing, and so on. One of the immediate results of these differences is its impact on university rankings.

University research output has become significantly more “international” and “collaborative” over the past 10 – 15 years. South African academics collaborate much more than before – in the post-apartheid sanction period this was always to be expected. But we also collaborate more in fields (such as infectious diseases) with international teams receiving huge international funding. Interestingly, there is nothing in the funding framework that actively encourages collaborative research – on the contrary. But one has to immediately add that this “negative” feature of the framework is offset by the positive effects of collaborative publishing as demonstrated in higher citations and more visibility.

The impact of SA’s research production has increased significantly over the past 15 years – mostly because of collaborative publishing (in high-impact journals) – and possibly also because of increased research in highly visible research areas. This is true at the country level, but with very different impact levels at the institutional level.

We have seen how the institutional differences in research productive capacity has remained pretty much unchanged for the past 20 years. But how have the most productive universities (the top 5 – 7) managed to increase their absolute output so much more than some of the weakest institutions? How have some universities managed to increase their international visibility and impact much more significantly than others?

There are at least two plausible (complementary) explanations – both relates to the human capital base. The first is evidence that shows that the top universities are not necessarily more productive at the individual level – they simply manage to broaden the active research base within the institution (cf. next slide). The second is the very persuasive evidence that shows the very strong correlation between the proportion of doctorate capacity and per capita research output (cf. following slide)

We undoubtedly have a highly differentiated university sector when assessed in terms of key and relevant indicators

Some of the “causes” of these differences reflect the path-dependency of historical factors, missions and structures. Other differences are the results of more recent institutional responses to international and national policies, strategies and incentives.

I have argued that the trends presented show that there are identifiable enabling mechanisms and drivers that impact on greater productivity and international impact even within a differentiated system.